UBC Blindness and Low Vision Program

08/24/2026

It is with great sadness that we share the news that Professor Emerita Dr. Cay Holbrook passed away yesterday morning, on Saturday August 22, at the age of 71.

Dr. Holbrook retired from ECPS in December 2023 after 26 years of dedicated service at UBC. She was a valued educator, researcher, colleague, and community member.

Dr. Holbrook’s family has advised that a Celebration of Gratitude will be held on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, at 11am. Please send direct message and we will share exact address for personal attendance if you so choose.

It will also be live streamed at: https://youtube.com/live/8sXR2rqn9xg?feature=share.

In lieu of flowers, the family asked for donations to be made to St. David’s United Church or North Shore Hospice.

07/26/2026

And Cohort 14 has survived their second summer. In an intense 3 weeks they tackled human guide and indoor navigation alongside tactile map making, and multiple areas of the ECC- dare we say rather successfully.
Some now return home for a rest before the new school year begins, some will support Blind Beginning’s LIFT camp, and some continue with in-person portion of the Advanced O&M class.

06/09/2026

Gearing up for summer courses! It will be a busy summer of hands on learning in O&M and other Expanded Core Curriculum areas on UBC's beautiful Vancouver campus. We've rented a great cooking space in the Health and Nutrition Building! Get ready for adaptive cooking and other independent living skills, sports and recreation access, tactile map making, O&M human guide and cane skills, among other learning adventures!

Sound interesting? A new Masters cohort to become a teacher of students with visual impairments will start summer July 2027. Applications open in September!

10/17/2023

Applications for the 2024 O&M cohort are now open!

11/08/2022

Applications for the Masters in Special Education, Blindness and Visual Impairment 2023 Cohort are open until December 1, 2022. Please pass on the word to anyone interested.

08/20/2022

Summer program has finished for 2022. It was great to be back in person for some hands-on learning. It was intense but also fun!

08/12/2020

Some nostalgia for my former O&M students: Do you remember these neighborhood landmarks?

11/22/2019

Webinar opportunity November 26th at 3:30 pm PST. Dr. Betânia Passos Medrado will be presenting on adapting materials to teach English as a foreign language to students with visual impairments within the Brazilian context. Join us via Zoom! https://zoom.us/j/145141480

Additional information:
This presentation will share teaching practices in the context of English as a foreign language in a non-governmental organization, from 2012 to 2019, which support people who are blind in the state of Paraíba (Brazil). The activities, based on the idea of recycling and technology, provided blind students with alternative ways of representing language in order to expand their accessibility to the learning of English. Most of the strategies and ideas shared in this presentation can be used to design programs for teaching English, or other languages, to students. The materials presented can be made simply and inexpensively.

10/07/2019

A new O&M graduate certificate cohort starts July 2020! Applications are now open through January 3rd. This cohort will have 2 on-line courses and only one summer face-to-face (July/August 2020) and we will have one or two location options in the Atlantic Provinces. For more information:

This program prepares students to teach all age ranges of individuals who are blind or visually impaired to travel safely and efficiently through their environment. Completion of the program will allow students to apply for certification with the Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation an...

10/02/2018

New Masters cohort starts July 2019! Applications are open and close December 1, 2018, so if you are interested in becoming a teacher of students with visual impairments at UBC, apply soon!

MA information: http://ecps.educ.ubc.ca/special-education/graduate-concentrations/ma-concentrations/blindness-and-visual-impairment/

MEd information: http://ecps.educ.ubc.ca/special-education/graduate-concentrations/med-concentrations/blindness-and-visual-impairment/

Application information: http://ecps.educ.ubc.ca/students/prospective-students/application-information/

Below is an example of course sequence for the master’s of arts program in Blindness and Visual Impairment. Please note that courses in this program are under revision and course numbers and names are likely to change in the near future. For an updated list of course offerings, contact VIProgram@u...